Mango

I took this picture of mangoes when I went on vacation in my hometown Iba, Zambales. This is the real mango that we know of. The rest we call Indian Mangoes. But we also have a type of mango that is huge compared to the regular variety and we call it “Dinamulag”. The word came from “damulag” which means carabao or water buffalo. It just means big literally because it is extraordinarily bigger than any mango you would ever see.
It is so sour when green but very sweet when it is ripe. It has a certain aroma that would really make you salivate.
I remember when I was growing up, my grandma sees to it that the mango trees be smoked. They would burn leaves and other debris, because I think it helps to produce flowers and also to drive away insects that might harm the new formed buds of mangoes. January is not good time for flowering mangoes because of the winter cold breeze that blows away the flowers. March, April and May are the best months for mangoes. It is the summer season and time for picking the mangoes. My grandma would hire somebody to pick or climb the trees. She would always collect with big baskets made of bamboo lined with banana leaves to protect the delicate fruits. The mangoes are picked when they are still green but with a hint of yellow on the skin. Then she would put them in the granary to ripen. I’m sure she sells some of it but I was so young then my focus is just eating the mangoes.